Let It Be
by lupinsstar
Summary: James loved Lily the minute he set eyes on her, way back in their first year. Now in their seventh year at Hogwarts, they are forced to work together as Head Boy and Girl. as their duties bring them closer together, James tries his last method of winning.
1. Chapter 1: The Best Prank Ever

**A/N:** My first fanfic, hope you like it!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter I'm afraid!

**Part 1- The Best Prank Ever**

Sirius sighed as he boarded the train, dragging Remus and Peter along behind him. "Come on Moony, Wormtail, we have to get our carriage."

"Alright Padfoot, we're here" Remus replied wearily. He knew there was a reason they had to get to their usual compartment, although Sirius hadn't quite filled him in. They went in and sat down.

"Where's Prongs?" Peter questioned for the seventh time that day.

"Honestly Wormtail, can't you remember anything? Dear ol' Jamesie is down in the prefect's carriage," Sirius replied, with a touch of annoyance in his voice.

"But why? Why would Prongs be in the prefect's carriage?"

"Peter!" both Sirius and Remus groaned.

"James is head boy Peter," Remus told him.

"Ohhhh, but who in their right mind would make James Potter head boy?"

"That's exactly what I said Wormtail," Sirius laughed, "Maybe the teachers were ill or something when they decided on the head boy and girl"

"They made a good choice with the head girl, Sirius," Remus put in.

"Who-"

"Lily Evans"

James was walking down to the prefect's carriage, he had to get the meeting over quickly, so the sooner it began, the sooner he could get to the safety of his carriage, and out of the firing line for the Marauders annual first day prank. He and Sirius had spent most of their summer plotting it. It was the biggest yet, in honour of their final year at school. They would be making everyone on the train fall madly in love with Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore, everyone but themselves, that is. It had been quite easy in the end. All they had to do was cast a spell on the train, and everywhere would be enchanted; they then had to remove it from their compartment, something which had taken a few words and the flick of a wand.

He arrived at the prefect's carriage, still deep in thought, and walked straight into the door. He fell flat on his back and accepted a hand up. The same person handed him his glasses and went quiet for a minute. James put on his glasses and realised Lily Evans, the love of his life was standing there.

"Do watch where you're going Potter," she said coldly. "You shouldn't be here anyway; this is the prefect's carriage."

"Really?" he replied, puffing out his chest. "You obviously missed the head boy badge I'm wearing."

"Oh very funny Potter, hand it over so I can give it back to whoever you stole it from."

"Hey, it is mine. I'm head boy; I got a letter from Dumbledore telling me." He stopped, taking in the look of complete shock on Lily's face. "Believe me; I was even more shocked than you. Who in their right mind would make me head boy?"

"Well, you missed the meeting. You need to patrol the train at regular intervals, and here's a list of passwords," Lily rolled off, clearly not taking anything in.

She walked back to the carriage where her friends were and screamed.

"Something wrong Lils?" her best friend Cassie asked.

"Nothing much." She replied, glaring into the air.

"Anything that makes you scream has to be bad, saying that, the only thing that makes you scream is James Potter…"

"Lily, sweetie, what's happened? Is it something to do with the new head boy?" her friend Fliss said.

"Hmm, I cannot believe who's been chos'- Wait, do you know who it is," Lily asked, her eyes narrowing. She had a feeling Fliss knew and hadn't told her; after all, Fliss did live next door to Potter.

"Erm…possibly yeah… I saw the 'Marauders' as they call themselves once during the summer," she said worriedly, then, seeing Lily's face continued. "Only cos I was sorting the summer house out for when you lot were coming over, and they were out in Ja- err Potter's garden cos Mrs Potter had banished them from the house for the morning."

"You should've told me Fliss; instead I stood there and did nothing."

"Sorry Lils, I thought it was safer to let you find out on your own, rather than tell you, so you couldn't go yell at Potter while you were staying at mine."

Sirius and James were looking at their watches. They had told Remus and Peter about the final details of the prank. Peter was amused by it, but Remus was slightly worried.

"If we're the only one's who don't 'love' Dumbledore n McGonagall won't it look like we did the prank?" he enquired.

"Well, yeah, but that way at least we get the credit, and can put everyone right again once we've been threatened with the usual, y'know, detention, suspension, taking house points…" James replied.

Remus continued to look apprehensive, but he knew he'd rather not 'fall madly in love' with the headmaster or Professor McGonagall.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, the spell is done." Sirius and James yelled excitedly, like two first years.

They quickly composed themselves when Remus and Peter began to snigger at them. They sat and listened quietly, waiting to hear if their prank had gone to plan.

All of a sudden, a random third year Ravenclaw student threw open the door of the Marauder's carriage, and ran in, yelling about his love for "the gorgeous Minerva McGonagall, who rocks my world" as he so bluntly put it.

The Marauders laughed, as they heard shouts like this coming from all over the train, some about Professor McGonagall, and others about Professor Dumbledore. They were slightly alarmed when one came in and yelled something about Filch, before realising he was only slating Filch for being in love with McGonagall.

At last the long journey was over, and the train had arrived at Hogsmeade Station. The students were still declaring their love for the two unfortunate teachers, as they left the train and got into the horseless carriages. They arrived at school and went into the entrance hall, the Marauders trailing at the back, not wanting to get caught up in bundle that was sure to occur, judging by the fact Professor McGonagall was standing at the doors to let them in. There was a loud yell as the person at the front of the crowd realised she was there. Chaos followed. The male students ran to McGonagall, and the females dashed into the Great Hall to see Dumbledore. Laughing, James saw Lily run past McGonagall, and suddenly he felt guilty. He had forgotten the prank would affect Lily too. "Oh well," he thought, "can't win them all."

It came as no surprise that the moment they entered the Great Hall, (McGonagall had escaped in there, only to be followed) there was a loud yell. "Black, Potter, Lupin, Pettigrew, here NOW!" They turned round, grinning, and headed to the staff table. "SORT THIS OUT BEFORE YOU ALL GET A MONTHS DETENTION."

"Sort what out, Minerva, baby," Sirius said slyly.

She glared at them as they reluctantly drew their wands and muttered the spell to end the madness. So, as sudden as it had hit the students, it was gone. They all hurried to their seats, embarrassed, and the Marauders walked to the Gryffindor table, not before they had an earful from McGonagall, with the promise they would be sent to the Head's office the next day.

Dumbledore rose, chuckling and spoke to them. "now that little ah 'event' shall we say is finished, may the sorting commence!" he sat down, chuckling again.

The new first years were sorted, and the feast began. When everyone had finished, Professor Dumbledore rose again.

"We all know these are dark times," he began solemnly. "Lord Voldemort is still at large, and whilst the school is as safe as possible, be on your guard. You will have all been informed of the new precautions, and if you see anything out of the ordinary please inform your Head of House. Now, before we trot off to bed, I welcome our new Defence Against The Dark Arts Teacher, Professor Rickard, and to our new students also, I welcome you. Now without further speech making, off to bed I think."

The Marauders got up and began to walk back to Gryffindor Tower, smiling about the success of their prank. Out of the corner of his eye James saw Lily glaring at them.

"Like the prank Lils?" he asked innocently.

"Loved it," she replied sarcastically, before stomping off to direct the first years to Gryffindor Tower.

"Will you go out with me?" he added as a last ditch attempt.

hope twas ok!

xxx


	2. Chapter 2: Finite Incantatem

Chapter 2- Finite Incantatem

It was a week into term, and James and Sirius were in detention. They were talking whilst writing lines. "I must not turn Professor McGonagall's desk into Professor McGonagall." It had been another successful prank, but James was worried. Lily hadn't seemed very impressed with him, and he desperately wanted to make her like him. Patrol duty hadn't been that fun. She had just walked, as far away as she could from him, as they walked around the castle. He had tried talking to her, but she would just turn her back on him, making no other motion as to whether she had heard him or not. James couldn't stop thinking about her, this was usual for him, seeing as he'd liked her since he set eyes on her, sadly, she had hated him the moment she saw him, after all, he had turned her hair green.

"Sirius, I don't know what to do, I love her," James said.

"Listen, you're 17, you don't love at 17, it's just one long infatuation," he replied. "We've been through this before Prongs…"

"I know, I know, but believe me. Sirius, I love her, seriously. I've had loads of girlfriends, and never felt like this about them."

"Yeah ok, but she doesn't li- hi Professor," Sirius said, as he saw Professor McGonagall walking over to them.

"This is detention boys, not a time for a chat, and you should be finished by now," she said, smiling. No matter how she tried to hide it, she couldn't help but like James and Sirius. They were the smartest students she'd seen for a long time, and she was lucky to have them in Gryffindor.

"I'm done," James said, looking up and flicking his quill in Sirius' face.

"So am I," Sirius added, chucking both his and James' quills at James.

"Oi, what was that for?" James said indignantly.

Sirius put on a hurt face and started to pretend-cry. James waved his wand and a hanky appeared. Straight-faced, he handed it to Sirius and began to comfort him.

"There there, Padfoot, there there," James said in a mock concerned voice.

"I think I'll survive the attack of the quills Prongs," Sirius said, "but will you…?"

The next minute every quill in the classroom was flying through the air, aimed for James. He yelped and started running. He ran out the classroom and hid in a nearby cupboard, before getting out his wand and bewitching the quills to fly after the next person who walked by.

That person was Severus Snape, James' long-term Slytherin enemy, well, all Slytherins were enemies, but Snape especially, or Snivellus, as The Marauders called him. James laughed as all the quills flew straight towards Snape, and Sirius, coming out of the Transfiguration classroom at that minute saw it.

"You," Snape snarled, at the sight of Sirius.

"Nope, not me I'm afraid Snivelly," Sirius replied, laughing, "but I take my hat off to whoever did this."

James laughed louder, and opened the door of the cupboard he was hiding in. "Hello, Snivellus," he said, icily.

"Potter," Snape said, glaring at James, whilst fighting off the quills which were now attempting to fly up his nose. "Sort this out, or you're dead."

"Ooo, I'm shaking with fear. But ok, I'll sort this out for you," James replied. He waved his wand and there was a sudden cloud of smoke. Snape was standing there, with the quills stuck to him, although they were no longer trying to fly up his nose.

Snape stood there silently for a split second, as though he was debating his next move. He pulled out his wand and began to use a very complicated and dark curse on James, but James and Sirius, being Marauders, were far too quick for him. They disarmed him before he was even half way through the spell, and within the next minute had him hanging upside down, tied to a chandelier, wandless, and with no way of getting himself down, as Sirius had stuck Severus' arms to the ceiling. James and Sirius walked off, sniggering.

The rest of the night passed without any further mishaps, but the next morning at breakfast Snape was not in a good mood, but then again, neither were James and Sirius. They had double Defence Against the Dark Arts first, and apparently Professor Rickard wasn't at all nice, in fact rumour had it that she had taught at another Wizarding School, and had forced a student to clean her feet! Another bad thing about Defence Against the Dark Arts was that Snivellus was in their class, and he wasn't happy after what had happened yesterday. James, however, had one thing to look forward to. Lily was in that class, so he could, at least, spend the double period staring dreamily at her.

They were lining up quietly- well as quietly as three of four Marauders could (Peter had not passed his OWL and had not been allowed to continue to NEWT level). Lily and her friends Fliss and Cassie were also there. They seemed to be deep in conversation, Lily was blushing furiously. James thought she looked quite cute, and proceeded to tell her…

"Hey, Lily…"

She blushed again and turned to face James.

"What?" she replied crossly, the smile on her face quickly turning to a frown.

"I just felt you should know how cute you look right now," he said cheekily, but she could feel the meaning and the truth he put in his words.

"Erm…thanks James, you look…nice today too." Her reply hit James like a full body bind. He fell to the floor in amazement at what she had said. Lily flushed yet again and turned away, whispering again furiously with her friends. Unfortunately, Snape took James' moment of weakness as a chance for revenge.

Now James really was in a full body bind, and soon enough a full-scale fight had begun in the hallway. Lily, being Head Girl knew she had to stop the riot before Professor Rickard arrived. Instead, she rushed to where James was laying, unable to do anything.

"Finite Incantatem," she muttered softly.

James looked up at her in surprise. "Thank you," he replied. This was exactly what his years of pursuing Lily had been for. He knew his attempts had not been wasted. For her to free him over stopping the fight- which was now a full scale riot-meant a lot to him. "Come on," he said, "let's stop this before everyone gets in trouble."

"Too late," she whispered, pointing her head in the direction of the stairs. James followed her gaze, only to see Filch standing there, Mrs Norris at his heels, and Dumbledore not far behind.


	3. Chapter 3: Diaries and Detentions

**Let It Be**

**Chapter 3- Diaries and Detentions**

Two weeks had passed since the fight with the Slytherins, and they were all sitting silently in their last detention of the two weeks worth they had got for the fight.

Lily was sitting in silence. She had finished the assignment that each of them had been given ("Understanding rules and responsibility") within the second detention, and tonight, was scribbling furiously in her diary.

…_I don't know what to do. I like him so much, maybe even love him. I can't let him know though, I like his friendship, if we take things further, maybe it won't work, maybe he'll never talk to me, ask me out, compliment me… I don't know what to do; oh I wish someone could tell me what to think…_

James sat watching her. She had a flawless record before this, and now because of him, her file was smudged. James was not particularly bothered about getting detention, but he had seen how upset Lily had been when Professor Dumbledore told them their punishment. He had also spoken to just James and Lily.

He had noticed the tears streaming down her face, seen the disappointment in her eyes, at the thought that she had let Dumbledore down. He knew being Head Girl meant a lot to her, so he had tried so hard to accept all the blame, but she had stopped him. James only wanted to spare her the pain and anguish she felt. But he understood her need to tell her part. He knew she felt guilty for not stopping the fight, and how confused she was, that she went to help him first.

The clock chimed 10 O'clock. The detention was over. James got up, and went over to talk to Lily, but she walked off. She acted as though he wasn't there. She grabbed Cassie and Fliss, and hurried off to Gryffindor Tower before he could even say hi. She had been like that ever since the fight. During the few patrols they had managed to do, she had merely said "evening" and "goodnight". She was even calling him 'Potter' again. James didn't understand this. After all his work on getting her to like him without being a jerk, he had achieved nothing. He had sacrificed so much for her. He was disappointed with himself. What had he done that had brought them right back to square one? It wasn't like he had hexed Snape or anything lately, well, not since he had jinxed the quills to fly at whoever passed them next…but that hadn't been specifically aimed at Snape anyway.

He walked back to Gryffindor Tower with Sirius and Remus. He could here them talking, laughing, joking. He didn't know what about, nor did he care. He had lost Lily. Things had been going well between them, but know he had no idea where he stood with her.

Lily lay silently in her bed. She could here the other girls talking, but didn't join in. she was so confused about James. She could sense that she was starting to like him, but she didn't know whether this was good. She knew he was nice enough, when he wanted to be, but they were worlds apart. So she was writing in her diary again, trying to understand what she felt.

"_He's a prankster; he has his friends with him all the time…I'm just a lonely loser. Sure, I've got Cassie and Fliss, but he and his friends are so close. I could never beat that. Even if we were going out, his friends would be first. And people would tease me so badly. And what if he expected me to be like him…and prank people? No, it would never work. We're too different. I'll have to carry on like I am, ignoring him, and ignoring this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I feel sick with it. Maybe it'll go soon. I don't want to be in love with James." _

Next Day

They were both sitting in the Great Hall, though different ends of the Gryffindor Table. Sirius, Remus and Peter went and sat opposite Lily, and Cassie and Fliss went and sat by James.

"Morning Lily," Sirius said to her. She looked up and glared at him.

"Did you want something, Black?" she replied, not intending for him to reply.

"Actually, now you mention it, we do," he said, "otherwise we'd actually be eating, especially Wormtail, who can't survive an hour if he doesn't eat."

"Padfoot," Remus put in, "anyway Lily, we just wondered if you and James have fallen out, only you both seemed to be getting on, and now you won't talk to him, and he ignores anyone who mentions your name."

"Look, Remus…" Lily began. She had always liked him the most out of the Marauders, he wasn't as egotistical as Sirius and James, and she found Peter rather annoying. "I don't know what happened. I guess, me and Potter aren't meant to get along."

"James loves you Lily, and we know you love him too," Sirius added, holding up Lily's diary.

"YOU READ MY DIARY!" she yelled, lunging at Sirius. He got up and started to run. Fuming, she got up, and pulled out her wand.

"Furnunculus" she yelled. Her face was as red as her hair. The teachers all came running into the Entrance Hall, where she had finally cornered him.

"Expelliarmus," Professor McGonagall yelled, pointing her wand at Lily. "Miss Evans what on earth are you doing?"

Lily turned round, her face registered the shock she felt at hat she had done. "Um…um I…I'm sorry," she stammered.

"Finite Incantatem," McGonagall muttered, pointing her wand this time at Sirius.

"Thanks Professor, sorry Lily…" he mumbled, clearly embarrassed.

"Miss Evans, this is not like you at all. Please explain why you decided to attack Mr Black."

"I…um…er…he...took…" she begun.

"-I took her diary and read it, Professor. Don't blame Lily. She had every right to curse me." Sirius cut in.

"That as it may be Mr Black, what Miss Evans did is against school rules, I don't care if you set her dormitory on fire, it is still against Hogwarts rules to use magic out of lessons, especially for hexing people," Professor McGonagall said, but the expression on her face had softened slightly.

"You will both receive a week's detention, and I expect better from you in future," she finished. "Now I suggest you go straight to your first lesson.

McGonagall went, leaving an awkward Sirius and Lily. "Sorry Lily," Sirius said.

"No, its ok. We're even now. Just don't tell James what's in my diary, please. It's supposed to be secret. Even Cassie and Fliss don't know most of the stuff in my diary," she replied.

"Course, Lils. I wouldn't tell anyone. You know, I'm not that big a jerk, I just wanted to see if you liked him. I'm just so sick of his moping." He handed over her diary, which she hastily shoved in her school bag.

"Come on," she said to him. "We'd better get to Defence Against The Dark Arts, before we get more detention from Rickard for being late."

"Yeah…ok. Now I know you like James, can I help you?" Sirius said. "He really loves you Lily. All he ever wanted was for you to like him back."


End file.
